The former Mumbai Congress president, Kripashankar Singh, who is under investigation for allegedly amassing huge benami assets, has said he would fight the charges legally.
“The law will take its course,” he told The Hindu from his residence here on Saturday.
Asked why he remained untraceable for the past few days, he said he had gone to New Delhi to appeal in the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court's order asking the Mumbai Police Commissioner to prosecute him and his family under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code and to attach their movable and immovable benami assets.
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The police had searched his property since Friday morning and opened the procedure for attachment of 19 movable and immovable assets.
Mr. Kripashankar said he had not yet been called by the police for interrogation. “The investigation is going on. If you want details, the police will be able to provide them to you,” he said, asked about the number of assets attached.
The charges against him were wrong, he said, and most of the property belonged to his son. He also apologised for his son having made an obscene gesture at journalists on Friday. “I apologise on his behalf,” he said, adding, in the same breath, that the way the media was targeting him and his family was also wrong.
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Meanwhile, highly placed sources told The Hindu that the police had withdrawn the Z-grade security cover given to him earlier in view of threat perception.
The police are also examining the licences for weapons owned by Mr. Kripashankar and his family. During searches, the police had recovered more than 400 cartridges and weapons from Mr. Kripashankar's house. The police said the politician had claimed licence for four recovered weapons. “We have to check whether any other family members have any licensed weapon before deciding on the course of action,” a senior police official said.
Official sources said there were no new searches anywhere in the city.
The police had searched and attached, among other property, three flats at upscale Bandra, owned by Mr. Kripashankar's son and daughter; a duplex flat at Vile Parle and a huge shop in a commercial complex at Panvel, owned by his son; two big office premises measuring 22,500 sq.ft. and 12,000 sq.ft. each in the Bandra Kurla Complex, again under the ownership of his son.
The sources said the police were examining even the movable assets, such as furniture and jewellery, in the houses of the family members. Mr. Kripashankar's family also owns an 8000-square foot commercial complex at Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh and 250 acres of land at Ratnagiri, and these assets were also ordered attached by the High Court.